Klarinet Archive - Posting 000249.txt from 2000/05

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: [kl] Tone descriptions
Date: Thu, 4 May 2000 19:27:51 -0400

I've been thinking about words such as "dark" and "light" and
"fluid" and so forth with respect to Dan Leeson's criticisms and also
with respect to Bear Woodson's (sp?) explanation of how composers must
learn to 'hear' the symbols on a page of sheet music.
If a person does, in fact, have the training to 'hear' a tone that
is described on paper by symbols or words, would any words other than
metaphors -- such as "bassoon-like" or "dark" -- really do the job,
given that ultimately music is an appeal to the human spirit and
emotions.
Obviously numbers (pitch, overtones, note durations, etc) are an
important part of music; but they are only part of music. A tremendous
amount of mapping and translation and re-routing of signals takes place
in the human brain while we're listening to music. Would it be
meaningful, while you're sitting next to your best friend in a concert
hall, to lean over and whisper: "I love this clarinetist's cutoff
frequency, don't you? Aren't those even-numbered harmonics dreamy?"
I don't see how you can discuss the real guts of music without
metaphors which, by definition, are not unambiguous.

Just a thought,
Bill

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